Program Management

One of the most useful patterns I’ve found to stay on top of a project budget is to think in terms of a monthly burn rate. As a program manager, one of my responsibilities is managing a budget. In the early days, I hated managing the budget because it always seemed like a lot of …

I’ve been thinking about execution and the lessons learned.   I’ve summarized some insights and reminders. I’ve been lucky enough to learn from among the best, so I’ve been able to see what works, what doesn’t, and the difference that makes the difference.  The Vital Few Lessons In Project Execution Here are the vital few lessons: …

Early on in my Program Management career, I ran into challenges around cutting scope. The schedule said the project was done by next week, but scope said the project would be done a few months from now. On the Microsoft patterns & practices team, we optimized around “fix time, flex scope.”   This ensured we were …

Here’s a brief set of success patterns I’ve shared with a few colleagues.  These are the patterns I see that make a difference in getting results. 1. Success Pattern #1 – Listen Empathically Empathic listening is listening until “the other person feels they’ve been heard.  “ Once they feel heard, they’re more likely to listen …

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.” — H.E. Luccock If you want to grow your project management skills to a new level, these are the 10 best project management books that I would say were really game changers for me. Each one has its special contribution in terms of shaping …